How to write grant assessment criteria

Assessment criteria are the backbone of a fair grant round. They tell applicants what matters and give assessors a consistent basis for scoring. Vague or unpublished criteria produce inconsistent decisions and weak applications. Here is how to write criteria that work.

Make each criterion assessable from the application

The first test of a criterion is whether an assessor can score it from what the applicant submitted. "Quality of leadership" is hard to evidence; "a clear, costed delivery plan with milestones" is something you can actually find or not find in an application. Write criteria as things you can look for.

Keep the set small and weighted

Three to six criteria is the sweet spot. Too few and you cannot discriminate; too many and scoring becomes a chore and weights blur. Give each criterion a weight that reflects how much it matters to this fund. A youth participation fund might weight reach and safeguarding heavily; an innovation fund might weight originality and learning.

Common criteria to adapt

A reliable starting set, to tailor:

• Impact and outcomes. What will change, for whom, and how will you know.
• Deliverability. A realistic plan, capacity and timeline.
• Value for money. Sensible costs for the outcomes sought.
• Governance and safeguarding. The organisation can be trusted to deliver responsibly.
• Fit. Alignment with the fund's purpose.

Publish them, with weights

Show applicants the criteria and the weights. This is not giving the game away; it is asking people to address what you care about. Published criteria raise application quality and make your decisions easier to defend, because everyone was judged against the same, visible standard.

Pair criteria with evidence-based scoring

Criteria only deliver fairness if scores cite the evidence behind them. "Strong on impact, see section 3" beats a bare number. This also keeps any AI assistance honest, summarising and pointing to evidence, never deciding. See grant application scoring and assessment.

Grantledger uses a no-code, structured criteria editor, named rows each with a weight, publishes the criteria and weights to applicants, and scores against them with cited evidence. For setting up the round around them, see how to set up a grant programme.